Recently finished this DVD cover for a fantastic new documentary about Connecticut hot dogs. The main artwork is actually pretty large for me, somewhere around 3 feet wide.
Connecticut hot dog joints are chock full of amazing old lettering which helped make the art a blast to do. Mark (the filmmaker) provided me with some awesome reference photos.
In some crazy cross promotion madness, we also featured a few of the places from the documentary in my
weekly hot dog column on Serious Eats, which might have been sketchy if they weren't some of the most legendary hot dog joints in the country. Also helps that the film is basically a labor of love that Mark has funded all by himself, so I was happy to help out.
The history of Super Duper Weenie actually goes back to a John Baeder, a fantastic superrealist / pop art painter and one of my favorites.Current Super Duper owner Gary Zimola saw the original truck in a book of Baeder paintings, and with the artist's help tracked down the truck, bought it, and turned it into an operating hot dog truck, and eventually a brick and mortar restaurant.
Baeder is known mostly for his diner paintings of the late 70's but is still going strong documenting hot dog stands and taco trucks all over the country. Check them out at
Johnbaeder.com.
Read the full posts on Serious Eats-A Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Blackie's Hot DogsA Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Capitol LunchA Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Super Duper WeenieA Connecticut Hot Dog Tour: Rawley's and Top DogThere are prints available of the DVD artwork that you can buy directly from the filmmaker at
CToriginals.com. For $29 you get an 11x14 giclee print (printed by Silicon Gallery fine arts, same folks that do all my prints) and a copy of the DVD.
